four days have passed since the devastating earthquake in japan. the number of confirmed victims has increased to almost 5,000 people, but one of the news reports said that the figure is expected to rise up to 10,000.
the threat from the malfunctioning nuclear reactors is getting worse. from yesterday, the japanese media finally started to point out the real danger of the incident, comparing it against the chernobyl (although the japanese government claims that the situation in fukushima would not be as serious). up to that point, the most of the japanese people, including the nuclear experts, appeared to be quite optimistic about it but not anymore… 5 minutes ago the prime minister himself announced the high chance of nuclear meltdown.
many friends of ours have left tokyo for either the west/south area of japan or overseas. on facebook or twitter, they constantly urge other people to leave. some posted a message saying that they are en-route to a safer area. while i am glad for their safety, these postings make me very vulnerable. my husband & i can leave at any time. actually we are bound to hong kong tomorrow for a few days (which was already planned a month ago, before the earthquake, not that it makes a great difference now…). but what about my family. what about my relatives. what about my friends. what about all the people who are exposed to the extreme danger of the nuclear radiation.
my family cannot leave because of their financial situation. they can’t afford to lose their jobs, they don’t know anybody in the west/south area of japan, they are not as mobile as we are. they won’t come with us because of all these reasons.
my heart aches. i think of the faces of my parents, my sister, her husband and their kids. they are the people who make me feel at ease when i am in a difficulty. they have given me such a great emotional stability.
and now, i don’t know how to protect them.
SMALL TOKYO KITCHEN 